Haiti|The bloodbath could speed up a controversial plan backed by the US and led by Kenya to send 2,500 police from different countries to calm the situation in Haiti.
Haitian gang violence also led to the death of two US missionaries on Thursday.
They tell about it, for example BBC and The New York Times,
21-year-old Natalie Lloyd was a US senator Ben Baker’s daughter. His wife is 23 years old David Lloyd was the son of the founders of Missions in Haiti. The third person who died was Haitian Jude Montiscited by The New York Times as the director of the organization’s Haiti operations.
Missions in Haiti ran a school for 450 Haitian children in the area.
On Thursday, a Haitian gang invaded the school grounds, tied up and beat David Lloyd, robbed the organization’s vehicles and loaded them with its property.
Lloyd was later freed from the ropes with the help of neighbors and had time to say before his death that another gang had arrived at the apaji and a firefight had broken out.
At this point, one gang member was killed by a bullet that the gang interpreted as coming from an aid worker’s gun, witnesses said, according to The New York Times.
The gunfire now targeted the aid organization’s workers, with tragic consequences.
Bloodwork may speed up the arrival of a multinational police force in Haiti, which has been prepared for months under the leadership of Kenya, to calm the situation.
The United States is financing the project significantly, although the country itself is not sending soldiers or police to the area for these tasks.
“The security situation in Haiti does not allow for delays,” the White House said on Friday after the bloodshed.
Kenya has trained a thousand police officers for the project by teaching them, for example, French, which is Haiti’s second official language.
In addition, according to preliminary plans, approximately 1,500 police officers are coming as reinforcements from Jamaica, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin and Chad.
The Haitian police have doubted whether the newcomers know how to cooperate and whether their language skills are sufficient in Haiti, which speaks French and the Haitian language (Haitian Creole).
Haitian the dismal security situation worsened further in February when a former police and current member of the G9 gang manager Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier launched new acts of violence to put pressure on the prime minister Ariel Henry to resign.
Cherizier, with political ambitions, brokered a shaky truce with another leading gang alliance to make the project a reality.
Henry had also handled the duties of the president Jovenel Moisen after the assassination in 2021 and was in no hurry to organize new elections. He was inclined to relinquish power in March.
The new nine-member transitional council has not been able to stabilize the situation. The gangs have taken control of more and more areas, for example already around 80 percent of the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
At the same time, the part of the civilians is inconsolable. Unicef warned earlier this week that Haiti’s health care system is on the verge of collapse.
Millions of Haitians are at risk of famine and infectious diseases when aid is not delivered due to gang violence.
More than 362,000 Haitians have been forced to leave their homes due to the violence, and half of them are from the country’s capital, Port-Au-Prince, reports European Union and the BBC.
A tent camp for residents fleeing gang violence at the Gymnasium Vincent sports center in the Haitian capital district on May 22.
In Haiti has 11.5 million inhabitants in an area roughly the size of Belgium. The earthquake in 2010 caused the death of over two hundred thousand Haitians.
UN peacekeeping forces tried to keep order between 2004 and 2017, but some of the peacekeepers were accused of sexual violence, for example.
In Haiti, the news of the arrival of new multinational police forces has been received with mixed feelings, says for example CNN. The gangs, of course, are against the project already because it may limit their position of power.
The Kenyan opposition has also criticized the practicality and feasibility of the project. According to the opposition, Kenyan law would allow soldiers, but not police, to be deployed on such missions.
A US soldier oversees the arrival of a shipment of aid at the airport in the Haitian capital on May 22. The United States does not promise a more permanent presence of soldiers.
Haitian authorities were able to partially reopen the airport in the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, this week after a three-month hiatus.
This allowed the Kenyan delegation to get to know the soon-to-be-completed multinational force base near the airport.
Aid organizations say, however, that even though the field is now partially operational, gang members are still able to disrupt or possibly hijack aid transports leaving from there.
The date of arrival of the multinational police force has been constantly moved. However, it is estimated that a significant part of them will arrive in the country during June.
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